Word.ws English Dictionary

-yl

-yl suffix: a univalent radical or functional group formed from a given molecule. Thus propyl from propane, benzyl from benzene, and so forth.

Suffix

-yl

  1. A univalent radical or functional group formed from a given molecule. Thus propyl from propane, benzyl from benzene, and so forth.

Origin of -yl

Via French méthylène from Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood, material”).

Words formed from -yl

Questions about -yl

What does -yl mean?
-yl means a univalent radical or functional group formed from a given molecule. Thus propyl from propane, benzyl from benzene, and so forth.
What part of speech is -yl?
-yl is a suffix.

Words near -yl in the dictionary

  1. -ximab
  2. -xizu-
  3. -xor
  4. -y
  5. -yer
  6. -yl
  7. -ylene
  8. -ylidene
  9. -yne
  10. -z
  11. -zepine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -yl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “-yl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-yl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.